Ford

News last week that a North Carolina woman died in a head-on car crash while posting selfies and Facebook updates brings home the hope for “connected cars.” More cars connected to the Internet, the argument goes, would help, not distract, drivers. With hands-free, eyes-on-the-road communication and entertainment as the norm, we might hear fewer such horror stories. Related: Top Ten Technologies for Mature Drivers We’re definitely moving toward connected cars. The market for hardware, software and apps that connect cars …

Automotive designer Roy Brown Jr., who died on Feb. 24 at age 96 in Ann Arbor, Mich., had a long and mostly successful career for Ford, but he’s best remembered for one spectacular miscalculation. The Ford Edsel, which lasted just three model years – 1958, 1959 and 1960 – was a moderately priced status car, aimed at upwardly mobile young families who weren’t yet ready for a Lincoln Continental. Instead, it became one of the most infamous automotive flops ever, earning a …

Imagine you retired from a company with a pension, and now the terms of that steady monthly income you so happily relied on are being reopened. If that scenario makes you a bit queasy, that’s how some 150,000 retirees may be feeling these days. General Motors announced Friday that it will offer about 42,000 U.S. retirees and surviving beneficiaries (about 36 percent of all its pensioners) lump-sum payments in return for giving up all rights to their monthly pensions. About …